Locals cheer bombing from ‘Sderot cinema’ as Israel steps up attacks on Hamas in Gaza strip

Civilians gather to watch Israeli attacks from the top of a hill at Sderot. Picture: Andrew Burton/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

AS THE death toll over the violence in the Gaza strip pushes past 160, the world has reacted with anger over a photograph showing Israelis treating the bombing as a spectator sport.

Locals in the city of Sderot, west of Gaza, have turned a hilltop into a makeshift cinema, bringing up chairs and sofas to get a front-row seat for the fatal air assault.

Rockets are fired from inside the Gaza strip towards Israel on the sixth day of Israel's operation Protective Edge as seen from Sderot, Israel. Picture: Andrew Burton/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

The world has reacted with outrage after journalist Allan Sorensen posted a photograph of the so-called “Sderot cinema”, which showed Israelis flocking for a good view of the bombing, with one woman winking at the camera and giving the thumbs-up as deadly rockets light up the night sky.

It said people were celebrating the deadly light show by cheerfully sharing popcorn, smoking hookahs and applauding the bomb blasts.

A man holds up a destroyed rocket, which he says was fired from inside Gaza towards Israel, for a crowd watching the Israeli attacks from Sderot. Picture: Andrew Burton/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

“We are here to see Israel destroy Hamas,” Eli Chone, a 22-year-old American living in Israel, told the newspaper.

“Honestly. Look at the people around you. They live in this town and must daily deal with being shot at. There’s nothing to say that they are happy that the military is now fighting back. We sit and look at Israel creating peace.”

“Today we have come to see the rockets hitting our cities occupied since 1948 and to see these moments of dignity and pride carried out by the resistance in Gaza,” one resident said.

“I invite everyone to come and watch the rockets, in order to confirm that the Palestinians are not weak, the Palestinians are strong. But because of the betrayals, and all that has happened in the past, now we are opening a new page for the resistance and Hebron will be the spark,” said another.

Meanwhile, thousands of people in the Gaza strip fled their homes and took shelter in United Nations schools yesterday after the Israeli army ordered them to leave in advance of intensified air strikes in the northern part of the coastal enclave.

The Palestinian death toll reportedly exceeds 160 as Israel continues its offensive against the militant Islamist group Hamas, which controls Gaza.

Smoke billows from a building hit by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, yesterday. Picture: AFP Photo/Thomas CoexSource:AFP

Diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire have yet to bear fruit, with US Secretary of State John Kerry speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a bid to prevent further escalation.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop says 17 Australians have been assisted out of the area as violence intensifies.

“Australians in Gaza are urged to leave as soon as possible,” she told Sky News.

The Australian Embassy in Tel Aviv is arranging a one-off assisted departure of Australians from Gaza, and the federal government has asked those wanting to leave to urgently contact the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Civilians gather to watch Israeli attacks from the top of a hill at Sderot. Picture: Andrew Burton/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images